HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- On Lap 208 of Sunday night's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, crew chief Steve Letarte ordered up a gas-only pit stop for the No. 24 Chevrolet driven by Jeff Gordon.

It was a gamble Letarte felt worth taking.

"We came here to try to win this race," Letarte told Gordon. "This is our only shot to win it."

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There are just moments of greatness that are there; it's just we can't ever seem to pull it all together. That's where we know we've got to get better, and that's where we'll focus in the offseason.

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JEFF GORDON

When he returned to the track, Gordon was in 18th position. But virtually all the cars in front of him were going to have to stop one more time for gas before conclusion of the race, or so Gordon and Letarte thought.

"The 29 [Chevy driven by Kevin Harvick] is the only person we're racing on fuel," Letarte told Gordon.

The pair was willing to gamble because it was Gordon's final chance to keep alive a streak that he began in 1994 when, driving only his second full-time season in what is now the Sprint Cup Series, he won the first two races of his career. Gordon entered Sunday night knowing his streak of 14 consecutive seasons with two or more victories already was gone, but he was determined to try to keep a streak of at least one or more alive.

Alas, it was not to be. The gamble proved worthwhile, netting Gordon a fourth-place finish. But he was passed on the track by Harvick and the No. 26 Ford driven by Jamie McMurray even after making the gas-only gambit. The No. 99 Ford driven by eventual race winner Carl Edwards never did come in for more fuel, surprising everyone.

Thus, Gordon heads into this offseason with the same career wins total that he entered the season with nine months ago -- 81, which ranks sixth on the all-time list.

"When the green-flag runs started, my car was just really, really tight in traffic. And I just couldn't pass the lapped cars," Gordon said. "Harvick was able to make a move on me. It just took forever for my car to come in. Once it got in clean air, I was awesome. But it was too late by then, and then the 26 had gotten by me halfway into that run for the same reasons.

"I was reeling him back in by the end -- and if I could have stayed ahead of the 29, I thought we would have had a chance to win. Man, I don't think anybody thought the 99 could make it. Those guys have gotten some great things figured out on fuel mileage."

Gordon, as usual, was able to find the silver lining in a season unlike any other he's had in the last 15 years. He pointed out that the fourth-place finish Sunday -- his 13th top-five finish of the season -- came after he started the race in 37th.

"Coming from 37th, I couldn't be more proud of Steve Letarte and all the guys on this Dupont Chevrolet," Gordon said. "We showed what we're made of and that we're not going to give up. Hey, we didn't win a race this year -- but I'm really excited about 2009. We've got a lot of great things happening."

That ability to overcome adversity occurred from time to time throughout his season, but never long enough for him to actually win a race.

"We need to be better," Gordon said. "There are just moments of greatness that are there; it's just we can't ever seem to pull it all together. That's where we know we've got to get better, and that's where we'll focus in the offseason."

Gordon said Sunday night was sort of a microcosm of his season. He also said he can accept the winless season because of the improvement his team showed after a difficult start, which he insisted bodes well for the future. He finished 39th in the season-opening Daytona 500 in February and didn't get inside the top 10 in the point standings until finishing fifth at Dover on June 1 in the 13th race of the season.

He ended up seventh in points as Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson captured his third championship in a row. Gordon said knowing how good his competition is makes it easy for him to accept the fact that he was beaten this season (watch video).

"I know how competitive this series is; I know how tough it is to win. And I know how good you've got to be to win. We had moments this year where we could have," Gordon said. "But that's the kind of year we had. Just like [Sunday night]. There were moments when we were great -- and we just couldn't put it together on every set of tires. And every time we got the good track position, we just didn't capitalize on it.

"That's what we're going to be working on next year. That's engineering, that's communication, that's just getting smarter. I can't wait for Steve Letarte to take this Dupont Chevrolet team and lead us to a championship, whether it's next year or the year after that. But I think we're going to win races next year. I don't think we're done winning races; it just was unfortunate that it didn't happen this year. Because I respect all our competitors and how tough it is, I'm able to swallow that and know how fortunate I was for all those years to win at least one race every year."